Military Diaries: Content, Features, and Potential (Based on the Great Patriotic War Sources)

Abstract

The present research featured the content, specific features, and potential of military diaries as a historical source in the anthropology of the Great Patriotic War. The study was based on the views of the leading Soviet and modern specialists in the field of source studies and historical methodology. The author defined three approaches to the place of diaries in the classification of historical sources: 1) diaries as ego-documents, 2) military diaries as memoirs, 3) diaries as a separate group of personal documents. The research objective was to determine the potential of military diaries as a source for anthropological studies of the Great Patriotic War. The method of content analysis revealed the most important aspects for the dairy writers in extreme military environment. The biographical method based on the diary analysis made it possible to describe the image of homo militaris during the Great Patriotic War. Military diaries demonstrated a great potential for studies of war routine, healthcare, psychology, and enemy perception through the eyes of an ordinary military participant, the psychology of warring man, the perception of an enemy during World War I.